Let's Pop the Cork!

[Jason Edge]

I have been intermittently working on parts Car #55, a 1963 Series 62 Four Window Sedan, between work on my new house addition project (ready to start floor framing once foundation and drainage is inspected), and just pulled the front clip off this past week as seen below. Looking past the heavy rusting on the pulley from this update NY car, it is always nice to see what looks like an original unmolested cork in the front of the crank. Yeah, they can be put back, but often they are not.  Anyway, I will do a deep dive into this engine in the coming days and find out what lurks behind the cork!

[1bt7pektvt387]

There are ways to replace a missing crankshaft cork. My local Ace hardware actually has a selection of corks in the bits & pieces of the nut & bolt department. I recall repurposing a wine cork way back when I was going for as much originality as I could possibly get.

[Jason Edge]

Ian, I have a bin full of cork about the same size from Home Depot, Lowe's, Ace, etc.  As  noted "they can be put back, but often they are not."  There is no guarantee. I am just saying from my experience parting out upwards of 60 of these, when they look original and have the same age patina as the rest of the engine it is often a good indication. I might pop that cover off and find shiny new steel cam gear sans the original nylon coating... but that has generally not been my experience. I guess another way of putting it, is I would rather find the engine with a "original looking cork" in it rather than without, as the chances are greater you may be dealing with a virgin engine. 

[Jason Edge]

I've been  pulling cork for 25 years  now. Find them really nice they still have blue on tip.

[Jason Edge]

Based on the undisturbed & original looking cork I was not surprised to find the original nylon coated cam gear lurking underneath. An additional plus is the teeth are in great shape. I don't see any chip away on this one. This should be a great engine for someone. The front cover really looked good. Just fyi, when I pull things like engine covers off, I have a large rolling wire cart that I use to saturate the front cover with oven cleaner, then hit it with the pressure washer. For things that get heavy grease and dirt build up, oven cleaner works great. I also have several other cleaning trick I might go over sometime in a a newsletter.

Anyway, Here is the latest look at this parts car with the nice cam gear and engine & tranny ready to pull out tomorrow.